COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The University of St. Francis women's cross country team posted a 20th-place team finish with one individual claiming All-America honors at the NAIA National Championships at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course on Friday morning. The 2024 race marks the 13th straight year that the Fighting Saints have qualified to compete in the event.
Allison Ramsey led the way for the Saints en route to securing NAIA All-America status for the first time in her career by placing among the top 40 runners in the meet. Ramsey finished 18th overall with her time of 21:26.0 over the 6K course.
Dyannara Franco was second in line for St. Francis finishing in the 134th position at 23:03.5, while
Nicole Vollrath,
Evita Martinez and
Riley Fleming battled each other for the Nos. 3 through 5 positions on the Saints' finishing list. In the end, Vollrath completed the race in 159th place with a time of 23:15.2, while Martinez edged out Fleming by eight-tenths of a second at 23:21.8 to finish 168th. Fleming crossed the finish line at 23:22.6, good for 171st place.
Rounding out USF's non-scoring participants were
Riley Mach with her 232nd-place effort and 24:01.2 time and
Patrycja Mrowca's 27:07.7 finish for 309th place.
St. Francis finished tied with Lewis-Clark University (Ore.) with 530 points, but the latter gained the upper spot (19th) on tie-breaking procedures.
The top finisher in the field of 327 runners was Taylor University (Ind.) freshman phenom Jaynie Halterman, who posted a time of 20:24.7. The Master's College (Calif.) edged out Taylor by just one point (92-93) to claim the 2024 national title. Thirty-five teams in total competed in the event.
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